A property mogul, Trump in 2012 criticized the marble tiles he will speak in front of at the General Assembly Hall. “The cheap 12 inch sq. marble tiles behind speaker at UN always bothered me,” Trump tweeted in October that year. “I will replace with beautiful large marble slabs if they ask me.”

During the 2016 campaign for the Republican primaries candidate, he continued his criticism of the New York building, lamenting that the body spent more than a billiondollars to renovate it, when he only spent $320 million to build his own Trump World Tower, located opposite the U.N.’s HQ.

“An ambassador from, I think it was Sweden, called up. ‘Mr. Trump can I meet you?’ ‘Why?’” Trump said, detailing the conversation during a campaign stop in Kiawah, South Carolina, in February 2016. “‘I’m on a committee,’” Trump said the ambassador told him. “‘We don’t understand how you can spend $320 million to build this building—brand-new, beautiful—and yet we’re spending a billion dollars to just fix up the United Nations?’

“I said, because of two reasons: corruption and incompetence. It’s very simple,” Trump said, stating that former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan “didn’t care about the cost” of renovations. The renovation story he was referring to was from 2006—the same year he told CNN that taxpayers “should be more outraged by the fact that the United Nations, which has the power to do great things, doesn’t do anything. That, to me, bothers me a lot more than their renovation bills.”

President Trump put America’s money where his mouth is.

Calling it “a big step in the right direction,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Sunday night announced a historic reduction in the U.N. biennial operating budget.

Haley said the plan calls for a $285 million cut for the 2018-19 fiscal year.

The inefficiency and overspending of the United Nations are well known. We will no longer let the generosity of the American people be taken advantage of or remain unchecked.” – Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations

She added, “This historic reduction in spending – in addition to many other moves toward a more efficient and accountable U.N. – is a big step in the right direction.”

This step is long overdue. But it’s not like the UN wasn’t warned.

US President Donald Trump has said that the United Nations is not living up to its potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement.

In his first speech at the UN in New York, he said: “Focus more on people, less on bureaucracy.”

Mr Trump, who has criticised what he sees as a disproportionate contribution by the US, said the UN could become stronger if all worked together.

The US funds 22% of the UN’s regular budget and 28% of UN peacekeeping.

Mr Trump is due to deliver a longer speech when he addresses the UN General Assembly for the first time on Tuesday. He is expected to call for a harder line on North Korea and Iran.

At a special meeting on UN reform on Monday, he encouraged member states to take a “bold stand” to change the UN’s “business-as-usual” approach rather than “be beholden to ways of the past which are not working”.

“I am confident that if we work together and champion truly bold reforms the United Nations will emerge as a stronger, more effective, more just and greater force for peace and harmony in the world.”

President Trump recognizes that the United States continually gets the shaft in these “united” dealings.

As expected, United States of America contributes the highest with a share of 22%. USA’s GNP is approximately 27% of the total GNP of all the member countries of the UN and thus its highest share of contribution is justified.

Japan contributes the second highest with 9.68%, followed by China (7.921%), Germany (6.389%), France (4.859%) and UK (4.463%) in the top five. Brazil contributes about 3.823% and is 6th in this list.

18 Countries contribute more than 1% each to the UN regular budget. 135 countries contribute less than 0.1% each including India’s neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Five countries are permanent members of the UN Security Council:

The United States

UK

France

China

Russia

The U.S. contribution to the UN exceeds the contributions of ALL the permanent members of the UN Security Council combined. Yet, we get no special treatment.

So as President Trump now requires of America, he requires of the UN. Get your financial house in order.

The United States was seeking a $250 million cut to the U.N. budget for 2018-19, on top of $200 million in savings already proposed by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Agence France-Presse reported two weeks ago.

Guterres has proposed capping the U.N. biennial budget at $5.4 billion, shaving off $200 million from the 2016-17 budget.

The U.S. pays about 22 percent of the U.N.’s budget, or roughly $3.3 billion, and fully 28 percent of its peacekeeping effort.

The U.N.’s operating budget is separate from its peacekeeping budget, which was cut by $600 million this year, under pressure from President Donald Trump, AFP reported.

The UN should expect the pressure to continue, and not just financially. As President Trump said, it’s time the organization live up to its potential.

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